Egyptians protest lawyer's arrest in Saudi

Egyptian protesters demonstrate in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, April 24, 2012 to demand the release of an Egyptian human rights lawyer detained in Saudi Arabia for allegedly insulting the kingdom's monarch. Arabic on the banner read, "Egyptians will never be insulted, freedom for Ahmed el-Gezawi." (AP Photo)
— AP

Egyptian protesters demonstrate in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, April 24, 2012 to demand the release of an Egyptian human rights lawyer detained in Saudi Arabia for allegedly insulting the kingdom's monarch. Arabic on the banner read, "Egyptians will never be insulted, freedom for Ahmed el-Gezawi." (AP Photo)
/ AP

"Citizens should think about how they voice their views and whether they would serve the interests of the detained citizen or make it worse," he said. "This is not a football match."

Several lawmakers demanded parliament launch an inquiry into the issue.

At the protest, a woman cloaked in a black abaya, a long garment worn by many conservative Muslim women in Egypt, held a picture of her son. She said he's been detained for two years in a Saudi prison.

"This is my 48th sit-in over the past two years. No one listens, no one sees, and no one talks about the Egyptians' rights," she said. She did not want to be identified because her conservative family frowns on women demonstrating publicly.

In 2008, another case caused a public uproar, when two Egyptian doctors were sentenced to seven years in prison and 700 lashes each for allegedly selling illegal pharmaceuticals and driving a Saudi princess to drug addiction.

Local media and rights groups said the doctors had been wrongly blamed for the princess' alleged addiction.